The UKI Territory’s team of intercultural mission officers introduce themselves.

As so many towns, cities and suburban areas become culturally richer, it’s important to learn how we can live and journey together in a way that celebrates diversity and unity. The territory’s team of intercultural mission officers play a part in positively impacting the territory’s intercultural journey. They will use their passions and skills in corps and divisions, and in wider intercultural challenges and opportunities. Based around the territory, they are available to resource and equip the UKI Territory.

Salvationist asked them to introduce themselves, their work and why intercultural mission matters to them.

Twenty-one years ago, I found myself, along with my wife, living in a hyper-diverse community and leading a corps that really represented the diversity. This journey opened my eyes to a tangible reality of Revelation 7:9, seeing people from all backgrounds gathering together and worshipping God. As we see so many tensions and disagreements in communities within our territory, my passion is to see glimpses of the Kingdom coming around this territory where the whosoever are truly welcomed and embraced.

I hope the UKI Salvation Army will match the speed and pace of the rapidly changing culture and outlook of the UK. This group will help build the bridges between different groups by providing opportunities to listen and belong. I am passionate about seeing how different cultures come together for worship and mission, and how we build and challenge each other in a godly way for a brighter future by accepting, understanding and celebrating the differences and integrating in his name. I am also passionate to see women given their place, and would like to journey with challenging injustice around this issue.

I feel very privileged to be given the role of intercultural mission officer in Scotland. This, I believe, is a God-given role, as it grieves my heart – and I would think God’s – given that other denominations have greater diversity in their churches and, subsequently, their leadership. We need to embrace our differences and be more inclusive as our mission statement intends us to be. I am passionate about playing a part in helping corps on their intercultural journey to welcome and embrace other cultures and to give people a voice. I am also happy to be involved with African Praise Fellowship Zimbabwe.

My passion is to see a Church that reflects the community it serves, in every way. I want to support people who feel that they are on the outside looking in, and I will advocate for people who feel forgotten about or excluded because of who they are or what their background is. There is richness in diversity and my hope is that, as a team, we build upon the good work already taking place across the territory, while also challenging areas or activities that exclude people.

My hope is that we can better equip and empower a Salvation Army where people of all colours, cultures and backgrounds are embraced without discrimination. A place where all people feel that they are equally valued and included. For this, I am happy to support the Ireland Division on the journey that they are on. I am also looking to explore intercultural praise within the division.

I am passionate about seeing every Salvationist embracing the increased multicultural reality of our corps, and to endeavour to relate to their communities in a contextualised way. I would like to see more opportunities for training in different contexts and experiences in intercultural mission and ministry made available to people young and old and at every level of our Army.

I am passionate about integrated mission and ministry and how this can bring people of different cultures and languages together. I would like to see more intercultural interaction amongst Latinos in our Salvation Army here in the UK. When we are thinking of reaching out to people of other cultures and languages, it would also be helpful to make more resources accessible in different languages to help in discipleship and a deeper understanding of what the Army is all about.

I am so blessed to be part of intercultural mission, which is a paramount missional task today with so many local and global conflicts. Many of them are, sadly, arising from a lack of cultural understanding, respect and interaction. To me, this intercultural mission is to practise Jesus’ ministry of reconciliation. ‘His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace’ by destroying ‘the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility’ (Ephesians 2:14 and 15). My contribution as an intercultural mission officer will be writing, sharing stories and engaging with people to bring and taste the wonderful reality of reconciliation in Jesus, in order to weave the stories of coming together as the counter-narrative in our age of disinformation and division.

For me, the great strength of intercultural encounters is that they allow me – perhaps even force me – to recognise and reassess my biases. Encountering how the ‘other’ lives, understands and expresses their faith ‘forces’ me to reflect on my responses. Intercultural mission depends on deep conversations and a certain amount of vulnerability. This, of course, applies to both parties. These conversations open our horizons and allow us to experience more of the diversity of the Kingdom of God. I’m happy to be a sounding board and help facilitate intercultural conversation, to help build much-needed relationships within corps settings and, in so doing, broaden people’s horizons.

My hope is that we are able to build on the work that others have done, and that we will see a truly inclusive Salvation Army. My passion is to effectively reach out to those who are second and third-generation, as we sometimes feel adrift, because we belong, but in different ways. I am happy to serve within areas others are looking at, and will continue to be involved in areas like resources. I am also helping with the Intercultural Mission Conference in March 2024.

My hope is that we can work together to make The Salvation Army a place where all people can belong. For this, I am passionate about seeing equity for non-white female opportunities. I am also willing to be involved in the Intercultural Mission Conference.